How Does Coral Bleaching Affect The Marine Environment

Corals dislike warm water about as much as acidity. When oceans get typically warm, corals can eject the algae that symbiotically live in their skeletons, providing food in exchange for shelter. The ejection process is called bleaching, named by the white skeleton left behind when the coral gets sick and, in some cases, dies.

Elevated sea temperatures caused by climate change and extra-bright sunlight can result in coral bleaching. As the water gets warmer, corals will expel the algae known as zooxanthellae that lives in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. When temperatures drop, the corals can recover, but they might be vulnerable to disease and when

Coral reefs are found in shallow tropical waters along the shores of islands and continents. Coral bleaching is a topic that gets left in the dust. Not many people really pay attention or show much interest in it. Widespread bleaching, involving major coral reef regions and resulting in mass coral mortality has raised concerns about linkage of the events to global phenomenons including global warming or climate change and increased UV radiation from ozone depletion. Corals provide a lot not just for us humans but for marine life as well. Marine Biology provides information about how bleaching happens and how it affects the coral. Buchheims’ article is full of logos and a few pathos while the other source is full of ethos. In The Nature Conservancy’s director Stephanie Wear provides us with lots of professional opinions

Global temperatures are steadily rising due to anthropogenic causes; this increase in temperature is causing changes to ocean properties that can impact the organisms that call this medium their home. One of the most evident impacts of climate change on the world’s oceans is the resulting raise in ocean surface temperatures. Rising ocean temperatures can directly affect biogenic reef building organisms like corals which produce some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the world. Previous studies within this field have determined that climate change is a notable stressor for these corals causing large scale bleaching events; where they release their photosynthetic symbionts. Once the symbionts of these organisms are released corals begin to starve and ultimately die resulting in

Coral bleaching is normally characterized by the expulsion of the zooxanthellae algae, loss of algal pigmentation, or both. Coral bleaching events have had serious effects on corals and reefs worldwide. What is crucial to the understanding of zooxanthellae expulsion and bleaching is how the density of zooxanthellae within the coral is changing, if at all, under the prevailing range of environmental conditions (Gates and Edmunds, 1999). Over the last twenty years, there has been a dramatic increase in both the frequency and intensity of coral bleaching events. Sixty major bleaching events have been reported between 1960 and 1979, whereas only nine were reported prior to 1979 (Huppert and Stone, 1998). Given the dependence of the coral on this symbiotic algae, it is important to determine the cause of these bleaching events. According to Helvarg (2000, p.12):

Since early 1998, climate change has been demonstrating its effects in increasing the ocean 's temperature (West & Salm, 2003). Warm water stress corals causing the phenomenon known as coral bleaching, by which expulsion of colourful symbiotic algae the zooxanthellae, vital for

Coral bleaching usually occurs when the surface of a sea with coral in it becomes too warm for the coral. When the water heats to as little as one degree higher than normal, coral expels the algae living in its tissue, which causes it to turn completely white. The rise in temperature of the sea surface has been linked mainly to global warming. Other causes of coral bleaching include oxygen starvation caused by an increase in zooplankton, increased solar irradiance, increased sedimentation, bacterial infections, changes in salinity, herbicides, low tide and exposure, cyanide fishing and elevated sea levels. Bleaching events in 2016 were unprecedented, nearly 90% of the coral in the Great

The impacts that climate change has on coral reefs is very concerning. The increase in sea temperatures is causing the coral reefs to become bleached. When a coral becomes bleached it causes them to expel the algae, leaving the corals white. Bleached corals results in many negative effects. When a coral is bleached they have reduced growth rates, the species that depend on them are affected, and there is a decline in coral reef protection from shorelines. The devastating impacts that climate change has on coral reefs are unpredictable to the sea and the ecosystem. It is a very unfortunate event that the rise in sea temperatures are causing these devastating impacts on coral reefs.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral reef zone in Australia and it is now being suffered by the coral bleaching. The coral reefs usually have colorful outfits and it provides a great habitat to many of ocean creatures. Nonetheless the many coral reefs in Great Barrier Reef are deforming to be white colored. There are microscopic plant cells in symbiosis with coral reefs, which requires the sun’s energy. However, since the temperature went up, the balance of symbiosis goes out, so the coral reefs releases the plant cells to the water and it makes its white color. The video states that anything that helps the climate change will also helps the coral bleaching. The coral reef zones like Great Barrier Reef are deeply related to the ocean ecosystem, so the if the destruction goes on and on, in close future our eyes might not able to see that magnificently beautiful corals anymore and many of ocean creatures. The destruction of one ecosystem doesn’t only hazardous to those creatures in that ecosystem, but it gives dangers to all ecosystem and could lead to another destruction of other

In 1980, NOAA’s marine biologist started noticing the coral bleaching. There has been three important coral reef bleaching events in the history. The first global bleaching event “El Niño” was in 1998, it was a “huge underwater heatwave killed 16% of the corals on reefs around the world” . The second bleaching event was in 2010 and was called La Niña. This event affected especially areas near Palau and Micronesia in the Pacific. In October of 2015, NOAA announced the third global bleaching event in which has already become the longest event recorded, affecting coral reefs for consecutive years.

The bleaching of coral reefs is when warm water forces algae to leave the reef. Once the algae disappear, the coral goes from a vibrant color to a pale white. As one marine biologist said, “You go from a vibrant, three-dimensional structure teeming with life, teeming with color, to a flat pavement...” This bleaching makes the coral more vulnerable to diseases and a greater risk of death. The biggest bleaching events to have occurred in

Coral reefs are threatened by global warming. They can only live in waters between 18 C and 30 C. Therefore, with the increase in temperature of the surrounding water, there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of coral bleaching events during the past 2 decades (which have had some of the warmest years in history). When ocean temperatures get too high, coral polyps lose the symbiotic algae inside them, causing them to turn white, or "bleach," and eventually die.

Coral bleaching means that corals or coral reefs lose their color because their symbiosis partner start to produce toxic substances with raising water temperatures and therefore the corals get rid of the algae by rejecting them. Without these algae the corals lose, despite their color, the nutrients that they would get from their partners and as the growth and development of the corals is very dependent on that relationship, the corals die due to a nutrition deficit. 3

The Great Barrier Reef is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, the world’s largest coral reef system extends across 2,300 kilometres just off the north-east coast of Australia. The bio-diverse natural reef is the largest living structure on the planet, so big it is visible from space (Great Barrier Reef Foundation, 2017). Unfortunately, the Great Barrier Reef is under threat. There are several elements influencing the rapid decline in the coral ecosystems health. This qualitative study will explore the affects coral bleaching is having on the coral ecosystem of The Great Barrier

There are many causes that contribute to the ghostly image of bleached corals, pollutants in the water, natural events - hurricanes, waves, and human activities - commercial scuba diving, heavy tourism in highly biodiversed aquatic areas. Yet the one major factor that causes this bleaching is the increase in the sea surface temperatures. The warmer temperatures are results of global warming, the rising concentrations of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, mainly carbon dioxide.